Pleasure and Business – From Pleasure to Business, Fog and the Galleries South Lounge

Pleasure and Business – From Pleasure to Business, Fog and the Galleries South Lounge

In this adventure…

• Pleasure and Business Mixing things together (again)
  
• Off to Heathrow
• Cathay Pacific Lounge and the American Airlines Lounges
• AA47 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare, Main Cabin Extra aboard a 787
• US Immigration Adventures
• Intercontinental Chicago North Michigan Avenue
• Deep Dish Pizza fun
• Travel Technology: Canon 40mm F2.8 STM with a Canon 100D
• Hyatt Regency O’Hare
• Back to O’Hare, British Airways Terraces Club Lounge
• BA294 Chicago to Heathrow Airport in World Traveller Plus
• From pleasure to business, BA Galleries South
• BA962 London Heathrow to Hamburg in Club Europe
• IBIS Budget Hamburg
• Currywust Nacht
• Back to Hamburg Airport, Hamburg Airport Lounge
• BA967 Hamburg to London Heathrow in Club Europe
• Pulling it home
• My calf muscles hurt…

With the plane on the ground and me out in the terminal, it was time to enjoy the call of nature, and then to luggage claim. Because let’s face it, airplane toilets are not known for being massive unless you’re flying Emirates or Qatar Airways in First.

Out we go

Hello B Gates!

Looking at the world, the fog was still dissipating – but it would have an impact – my flight onwards to Hamburg had a delay posted on it already.

Still a big foggy.

With not much else that could be done, I headed for the transit shuttle and then to the UK Border.

A short ride in the transit, and I was in T5A – home of the main terminal, and the UK Border.

Follow the disks if you are connecting, or heading to the border.

The border.

I went for an e-Passport gate – and amazingly, it didn’t break the gate this time. I was let through, and down to baggage claim. There was a 10-minute wait, but soon the baggage band was re-united.

Wrapped!

The band back together again… for a short time

With that, it was time to clear customs, and out into the real world of Terminal 5.

Being on the ground floor of T5 has some benefits – the main benefit is that I could head to the left luggage drop off point. As much as I love lumping heavy suitcases on undergrounds and metros – the ski bag and the suitcase would be having their own holiday at London Heathrow Left Luggage, whilst the day rucksack and Lufty bag would be heading onto Hamburg.

Chuck it all in!

With the non-essential kit removed from both bags I would need in Hamburg, I was mobile and ready to go after a 5 minute sort-out.

I headed up to departures and through the North Fast Track (because the South Fast Track was closed) … and have a chat to my parents too.

Terminal 5 Departures

A quick check of the departure boards indicated the news was not good.

And it would get later.

Fast Track was as fast as could be expected at 8amish in the morning (In other words, painfully slow). However, I was soon free to move about the terminal. With that done, I headed over to Galleries South lounge as there two things I needed – a shower, and breakfast.

Up we go!

The broken cloud (The flipdots flipped a long time ago)

I travelled further up the escalators, and saw a friendly horse lamp – the sign of a British Airways Terminal 5 lounge.

Hello Horse lamp!

I was buzzed in, and tried to find a place to sit down. Which in Galleries South, can be a challenge. I also learned to reserve a shower, I needed to head back downstairs. I followed the instructions and got a pager.

So, let’s explore this busy lounge.

Papers 

The silver bar

Drinks selection

Fruits

Bacon rolls 

Cheese omelette rolls 

Toast

After a while, my pager beeped, announcing my shower was ready. The shower is the pretty standard BA shower with so many nozzles you can lose yourself getting clean.

Refreshed and clean, I headed back upstairs to the lounge, and checked on the delay – and it isn’t pretty.

Crap.

With my trip to the conference in the bin, I decided that I would skip the conference and head straight to the hotel. What else could I do?

I spent some more time in the lounge catching up with the world – and with boarding finally announced – I headed down to the gate.

See you again Horselamp and A380 model!

With boarding still delayed when I got to A12, everyone was lining up – and you could tell it was going to be a busy flight today.

Line up and wait.

In the end, boarding started, and I made my way to the front. My boarding pass was blipped, and I was let through to the waiting Airbus A319 – which would take me onto Hamburg.

Next: BA962 London Heathrow to Hamburg.